Be part of the Greater Manchester Walking Festival

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Celebrate the joy of getting out and about with the Greater Manchester Walking Festival!

Come together with family, friends and communities to have fun and re-discover the joy of the journey!

For the past five years the Walking Festival has encouraged people across our great city region to get out and enjoy a walk, make new connections, discover new places and perhaps learn new things.

This time, the festival is running from 1st-31st May 2020 and this year you can make the Festival more joyful and fun than ever before!

A Walking Festival is never boring. You can reach out to non-walkers, the neighbours, colleagues and friends – it’s not all about muddy boots and long hikes, but that does count. The festival wants to provide a programme of fun walks that will remind people how joyful walking is.

 

Walking by stealth

How about organising a super hero fancy dress walk for children and families? For the selfie takers, how about an alternative selfie tour of local landmarks? A litter-picking walk for the community-minded? Could you plan a treasure hunt?

For more info, go to the Greater Manchester Walking Festival website.

Ideas for organising your walk:

Could you or your organisation plan and host a walk (or two or three…) that will encourage people who don’t usually walk to get outdoors next May?

Could you team up with a local dog’s home and organise a dog walk, connecting dogs with people who might not be able to have their own dog? A nature trail to showcase the local points of interest or scenic spots?

  1. Decide on a day and time

Think about which dates and days would suit most of the people in your community so that everyone can make it. Are weekdays or weekends best? And what time of day works well?

  1. Decide who the walk is aimed at

Do you want to encourage more families and children in your community to walk, or would a walk aimed at women be more suitable for you? Could you bring people together through a common theme or add a walk to the usual activities of the local book club, chess club or lunch club.

  1. Decide on a JOYFUL theme

Remember – a Festival walk doesn’t have to be big or complicated! It can be a short walk (we recommend no less than 30 mins) but we do want all the walks in the Festival programme to have a joyful theme that encourages and interests people who don’t normally engage with walking groups.

  1. Shout about it!

Once you have planned your walk let the festival team know so that your walk can be part of something big! Visit the festival website gmwalking.co.uk/Festival and submit your walk details by Sunday 9th February 2020.

  1. Finally – enjoy!

Please do share the joy of your journey! Post your photos, videos and stories on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook using the hashtag #GMWalkingFestival. On Facebook please tag us @GMWalks. You can also email photos to us at info@gmmoving.co.uk

For more information events across Greater Manchester, head here.

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Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

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